Tearfund Canada is a top-rated five-star charity with a high results reporting grade and overhead spending within Ci's reasonable range. The charity is financially transparent and has funding reserves that can cover less than a year of program costs. Tearfund Canada has good demonstrated impact.

Founded in 1982, Tearfund Canada (TFC) is a Christian charity that works to end poverty across the globe. Tearfund Canada uses a model of church-based community transformation where it delivers aid and training to people through partnerships with local churches. Tearfund Canada works collaboratively with nine other independent Tearfund offices in different countries. Tearfund Canada is a member of Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) which is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches working together to end global hunger. Each member of CFGB has an account with the charity that holds funding for collaborative relief programs. Tearfund Canada’s charitable programs are Relief and Rehabilitation, Development, and Education. In F2021, the charity spent $5.7m on its programs

In F2021, TFC spent 63% of program spending on Relief and Rehabilitation. This program involves delivering emergency aid to people in disaster zones and working with local churches to stop gender-based violence. Emergency aid includes food, water, shelter, sanitation, and medical care. In F2021, the charity reports that 292,207 people benefitted from emergency aid and 314,740 women and girls were empowered. Emergency aid was distributed in seven different countries.

Tearfund Canada spent 36% of its program spending on Development in F2021. The Development program includes agricultural training and Village Savings Groups. Village Savings Groups are groups of 25 to 30 people who create a pooled savings account that can be used to start a business, send children to school, and meet basic needs without relying on exploitative loan sharks. Groups meet weekly and receive training on bookkeeping and business principles. In F2021, 1,202 new savings groups were organized and 63,678 people were in savings groups. During the year, 49,496 people benefitted from agricultural training and 7,000 acres of new land were farmed. Less than 1% of program spending was allocated to Education.

In F2021, Tearfund Canada received $2.9m in Canadian donations. The charity received $4.7m in government funding (59% of total revenue). TFC received $3.2m of its total revenue through its account at CFGB. It reports that contributions to its account at CFGB are typically leveraged by Canadian Foodgrains Bank on a one-to-one basis.

Administrative costs are 7% of total revenue. Fundraising costs are 20% of donations. This results in overhead spending of 27%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 73 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.

Tearfund has funding reserves of $3.8m (including $1.6m held with Canadian Foodgrains Bank) which can cover program costs for around eight months.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Tearfund for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 8th, 2022 by Arjun Kapur.